Queer students

The Denver Public School System recently added that transgender and gender non-conforming students would be protected under policies unanimously adopted by the school board in January 2004. The school board voted to add "gender identity" to other categories protected under the policy that declares "Equal Educational Opportunities" for students. The amended policy will read as follows: "All students within this school district regardless of race, color, religion, sex, marital status, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity shall be entitled to the benefits of a good education. To secure such benefits, the needs and aspirations of all students shall be considered." For more information, contact The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) at ntacmedia@aol.com.

Sex-positive images on college campuses are coming from such erotic magazines as Vassar's Skirm: The Art of Campus Sex and Swarthmore's Untouchables, as well as web sites like Smith College's www.smithiegirls.com and Columbia University's sexual heath Q&A forum, www.goaskalice.com. Sex-positive culture has also surfaced in public institutions but funding remains politically contentious. Sex-positive groups are fundamentally queer-friendly, resulting in part from the women's movement, which endorsed non-procreative sex such as masturbation and lesbianism, and AIDS activism, which brought homosexuality into public discourse (In These Times, August 15, 2003).